


Just Stay By My Side

by inkbetweenthekeys



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everybody Lives, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, One Shot, Other, Spoilers for Season 4 Ep8, This is how the episode really ended, gender neutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 12:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29135682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkbetweenthekeys/pseuds/inkbetweenthekeys
Summary: Season 4 Episode 8 spoilers! This is for everyone who needs a happiness boost after the latest episode.You are there by Sasha's side on the airship, ready to protect her. Nobody is hurting her on your watch.
Relationships: Sasha Blouse/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 67





	Just Stay By My Side

You shivered against the wind as you reached out of the aircraft, extending a hand to help pull Jean safely inside. The sight of fire raging across the city in the distance and the muffled sound of screaming sent another chill, unrelated to the weather, down your spine. This was the work of the scouts. You weren’t sure how you felt about that.

You crouched by the door as Jean pulled himself up, along with Connie and Sasha. “Who’s left?” he asked, the bitter edge of nerves evident in his voice.

“Still waiting on Lima squad,” Connie replied, and the four of you shared a glance.

“As far as we know there’s six casualties,” Sasha told him, and her hand came round to rest gently on the small of your back. You knew what she was doing, checking to make sure you were still there, complete and whole next to her. You gave her a sad smile.

“I see...Shit!” Jean hissed. Six of your friends...gone. Just like that.

An annoyingly familiar voice piped up, “That’s nothing compared to the damage we did!” You turned to see Floch pumping his fist in the air, a smirk on his face. “The new Eldian Empire’s first battle ends in victory!” Cheers broke out from the other recruits, swallowing the fading screams from below.

“Tonight we celebrate in honour of our six fallen heroes!” he continued. You didn’t much feel like celebrating, and from the looks on your friends’ faces, they felt the same.

“First battle, huh? How many more till the fighting ends?” Jean whispered, more to himself than in response to Floch. “Just how many have to die?”

It was a feeling the four of you knew well. How many soldiers had you seen die over the years? And now it wasn’t only limited to your comrades, but to these civilians...You understood Floch’s excitement. You had seen people die by the hundreds even before you joined the survey corps, all because of these people - but that only made your own guilt worse. It may be revenge, but it didn’t feel right.

Connie grabbed you and pulled you into a hug along with Sasha. You reached out to pull Jean in as well, the four of you huddled in together, gear digging into your sides painfully. “Anyway, I’m just glad we survived again. “It’s not very fair to the others, but you guys are special to me.”

For a moment, you all sat in silence, reflecting. These three certainly were special to you. It had been years now since you met in training, and you’d been through countless life and death situations together. You’d trust them to have your back in any situation. Connie never failed to make you laugh if grief tried to come knocking, and Jean was like the older brother you never had. Sasha, though...she was the most special of all, to you.

Early on in training days, you had taken sympathy on her constant hunger pangs and slipped her a couple of your potatoes at dinner. Ever since, you had been joined at the hip. A couple of years ago, friendship slipped into...something else. Something more. A comforting hand squeeze lingering too long turned into stolen kisses after breaking into the kitchen together.  
Your thoughts were interrupted as Jean and Connie started arguing over something stupid, as they always did, and you took the opportunity to pull Sasha aside so you could talk to her on your own.

“Are you okay?” you asked, lifting your hand to gently caress her cheek. Her eyes were dark and wide, staring up at you. You had noticed her quietness after arriving back on the airship, and you wanted to check how she was dealing with the day’s events.

“I’m fine,” she said, her voice sounding chirpy. It would probably fool most people, but not you. You gave her a light poke in the stomach.

Sasha averted her gaze. “I...killed someone. There was a kid as well, who saw me. It just…”

You pulled her into your chest, one arm snaking around her waist to keep her close and one reaching up to stroke her soft hair. You had always admired it, her hair, chestnut brown and always silky despite the fact that the scouts rarely got a proper wash. Your own was lank and greasy most of the time. Maybe all the food Sasha ate had restorative qualities.

She hid her face against your chest, and you let her rest there for a minute. “Me too…” you murmured. “I had to, as well.”

At that, she looked up. She was so cute, tucked into your arms, warm and full of life as her round eyes blinked up at you. Your heart gave a flutter at her trusting gaze. “I guess all we can do is have faith in Eren,” she sighed.

“Oi, oi, lovebirds!” Jean called. “Get a room!”

“Shut up, Jean!” Sasha called, but you released your hold on her as you walked back over to the others. “At least I’m getting more action than you!” You and Connie fell about laughing at Jean’s indignant squawks.

Suddenly, Sasha tensed up. “Did you hear a sound just now?” she asked.

You shrugged. You hadn’t heard a thing, but Sasha had impeccable hearing from years of stalking through the forest, hunting. Jean shouted at the other soldiers who were still celebrating to be quiet.

“Isn’t Lobov still out there?” Connie asked.

“No, I think he came aboard,” said Jean, not really paying attention as he tried to get Floch to shut up.

You frowned. The door had still been in your eyeline while talking to Sasha, and you hadn’t noticed anyone come in. And you were certain you hadn’t seen Lobov’s face anywhere among the partying squad. If being in the corps had taught you anything it was to trust your instincts, and impulsively you looked over your shoulder towards the door.

Someone was there.

A girl, a child, clinging onto a rifle. Her eyes burnt with a wild, desperate rage as she lifted it and took aim. Right at Sasha.

“Get down!” you screamed, and leapt for Sasha who hadn’t noticed the gun pointing at her. Your body slammed into hers, tossing you both to the floor, as you heard the bang of the gun explode. Pain lanced through you as you hit the ground heavily, but your thoughts were only of Sasha. Something wet flecked your face, and as your trembling fingers touched it, you felt it to be blood. Heart hammering, you knelt over her. 

The bullet had grazed her shoulder, clipping through the top of her gear. It was bleeding, but Sasha offered you a shaky smile. You ignored the footsteps thumping past you as the rest of the soldiers ran at the kids that had somehow boarded, and tore at the hole in the gear, to inspect the wound. To your intense relief, it didn’t look deep, but you called for bandages immediately. You held onto Sasha’s hand as you waited, anxiety and adrenaline making you jumpy.

“Shit,” said Jean, face white. “If you hadn’t pushed her…”

You didn’t want to think about what could have happened. Sasha was okay, that was all that mattered. When you two had started dating, you had known that it was a risky life you led, one that might take you two apart long before you were ready. But that didn’t mean you had accepted it, and that moment of fear as you had seen the bullet heading for Sasha was replaying over and over in your mind.

Sasha must have read the worry in your face, because she sat up and made a gesture at Jean to go away and give you two a minute. He reluctantly backed off to find some bandages. At least she was sitting up with ease, another sign the injury wasn’t serious.

Sasha whispered your name gently. “I’m okay. You saved me.”

It was hard to swallow the tears rising. No matter how much death you saw, how much you caused, it never got easier. You never wanted to experience that pain again. You couldn’t lose Sasha. You just couldn’t. Who else would sneak into the kitchens and steal food for you to cheer you up when you were down? Who else would make a fool of themself in combat training, making ridiculous poses, just to see you smile? Who else would tell you all the stories of adventure growing up in the forest, a distant smile on their face as they did so?

“I love you,” you choked out. It was all you could say in that moment, such a simple phrase but holding so much meaning. Sasha’s goofy smile told you she had understood. She tilted her face up and your lips met, a slow, lingering kiss, the kind that promised all the time in the world together.

“I love you...more than meat,” Sasha whispered, and you let out a gasp. Meat was Sasha’ reason for living, her sole purpose in life...but she loved you more?

“Are you serious?” you laughed, hardly believing it.

She pressed another cheeky kiss to your lips, and nodded. “But I would love you even more if you could somehow get some meat for me, right now. Two good things combined, you know? I just had a near death experience and I think that meat would help me make a very speedy recovery.”

You laughed again, pressing your forehead against hers. “I’ll give you all the meat in the world,” you promised. “Just stay by my side.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wow I can't believe I just wrote out exactly how the episode ended! How crazy of me! This is exactly how everything went down!
> 
> Even as a manga reader, that shit hurt. Thanks Isayama and Mappa.
> 
> This was the first time I ever attempted a reader/character fanfic so I hope it didn't suck haha. I had no intentions of writing this but I was feeling down after the ep so banged it out in about a hour. Let me know if you liked it!
> 
> Find me on tumblr @inkbetweenthekeys


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